ITR -- Polar Satellite Remote Sensing: Toward Full On-Line Access and Education

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This project was funded under the Information Technology Research (ITR) program, which enables research and education in multidisciplinary areas, focusing on emerging opportunities at the interfaces between information technology and other disciplines. The program seeks innovative projects in research and education that elucidate, expand and exploit information technology. The Arctic and Antarctic Research Center (AARC) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has been an important source of polar satellite remote sensing data and related services. It receives direct-broadcast telemetry from NSF-supported satellite tracking facilities at McMurdo and Palmer Stations in Antarctica, and from the U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers when these ships are operating at high latitudes. The AARC provides specialized data distribution and instruction to polar researchers and expedition planners, including real time data access, near-real time sea ice mapping for research cruise support, customized data processing in support of research projects, and in-house training in the use of satellite remote sensing data over the polar regions. The AARC, as a "regional" data center providing customized support for polar researchers, has a threefold operating mandate: (1) to provide satellite data in a timely manner at no cost to the user, (2) to provide training that introduces a great many polar researchers from all disciplines in the use of remote sensing data, and (3) to develop low-cost ways to overcome the practical "barriers" to satellite data access. This project will remove two remaining significant barriers to satellite data access: a tape based archive, and a manual system of retrieving requested images. First, a server system that maintains the most recent year of satellite data on-line in three appropriate formats (raw binary telemetry, HDF-EOS, and high resolution JPEG imagery), with full internet access, will be developed. Most AARC users request data from the preceding 12 months, so this is an appropriate subset of the archive with which to begin. The architecture will be scalable to eventually allow on-line access to the entire archive. Second, a comprehensive on-line educational curriculum will be developed that discusses all important aspects and applications of remote sensing to polar research and expeditionary work. The goal is that a researcher should be able to log onto the AARC's web site, learn in great detail about the data, and then select and download the required data in a readily usable format using an easily navigable search facility. This project involves research into high level on-line access to remote sensing data for the geophysical sciences, and can serve as a model for other institutions or collaborative programs that need to make satellite remote sensing data available to a broader research or educational community.